Kensington Swan's view on aspects of the construction industry

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Monthly Archives: October 2015

Housing New Zealand has been criticised for failing to meet its target, set in 2013, to build or have in delivery 2,000 new homes by 31 December 2015. As at June 30, only 666 new homes had been completed. Housing New Zealand’s annual report attributes this to the restructuring of the organisation’s asset development team, which…

This post was written by Kensington Swan partner Mary Haggie. It is common practice in construction projects for a head contractor to hold on to subcontractor retentions until the end of the defects liability period in the head contract. This practice was supported by a recent Australian Court of Appeal decision – Wright v Lend…

Last week the Productivity Commission released its final report on the availability of land for new housing. We previously blogged on the draft report released in June. The Commission’s objective was to examine the by-laws, processes and practices of local planning and development systems, in the hopes of identifying the efficiencies and inefficiencies in the…

Over two years after the bill was first introduced to Parliament, the Construction Contracts Amendment Act has passed. The majority of the Act comes into force on 1 December 2015, with the following provisions brought into force at later dates: 1 September 2016: Amendments to the meaning of construction work to also include design, engineering and quantity surveying…

Following termination of its construction contract, C.J Parker Construction Ltd issued a payment claim which the client responded to by email but never paid. Two years later, C.J Parker commenced a court proceeding to recover the claimed amount. The proceeding failed and C.J Parker was left to cover not only its own legal expenses, but…

Building and business owners would be advised to take a look at their premises in light of a new Code of Practice for the design, installation and seismic restraint of suspended ceilings. The Code was developed by the Association of Wall and Ceiling Industries (AWCI) in response to recommendations from the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission.…

The Construction Contracts Amendment Bill has had its third reading and is now pending assent from the Governor General. The bill is attached. Two key areas to look out for are: the amendments to the meaning of construction work to include design, engineering and QS work performed in NZ and which will come into force…

As repair work advances in the leaky building saga, breaches of fire safety rules are showing up as a hidden, but significant issue. While remedial work on leaky buildings is being undertaken, it is being discovered that fire rated materials and devices are incomplete, or do not exist at all. This includes holes in fire-resistant walls,…

On Sunday the remaining Red Road Apartments in Glasgow were demolished. However, not all went to plan with two of the structure remaining partially upright after the controlled demolition. Click here to read the Stuff article including video. However, this end is not as spectacular as a previous plan. In preparations for the 2014 Glasgow…

In a recent High Court case, Teak Construction Limited v Andrew Brands Limited [2015] NZHC 2312, Associate Judge J P Doogue granted an application to dismiss summary judgment proceedings on the grounds that the Court had no jurisdiction as the parties had agreed to submit disputes to arbitration by the terms of their contract (NZS…